Wags like to suggest that even bad pizza is good. The same can’t be said for jazz. When jazz is bad, it’s really bad. I attended a disturbingly uninspired performance last week. Watching musicians bury their noses in sheet music during round after round of drab solos was excruciating. At a time when the jazz scene is being enlivened by scores of inventive musicians, joyless facsimiles of Cannonball Adderley’s 1958 album Somethin’ Else are intolerable.
(Original image by Plastic Sax.)
I heartily agree with you. If one takes themselves seriously about this music, then no gig should be treated as a "pick-up gig" anymore. Not in this city. Form a band, or at least have a core group of players to pull from that you have chemistry with. Have a repertoire of your own. Memorize the tunes, and leave the real books at home. Create something beautiful!
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